BMI Foundation Accepting Applications For 2019 Scholarship

The BMI Foundation is accepting applications online for its 2019 scholarship season, which is open to students attending colleges and universities nationwide. The Foundation will administer five songwriting and composing scholarship competitions, judged by musically acclaimed panelists.

These annual programs include the BMI Future Jazz Master Scholarship, BMI Student Composer Awards, John Lennon Scholarship, peermusic Latin Scholarship and the Nashville Songwriting Scholarship. In addition, the Foundation administers two scholarship competitions outside the area of music creation: the BMI Founders Internship Program for broadcasting students, and the Woody Guthrie Fellowship for scholars pursuing topics or themes related to the American folk music progenitor.

The fifth annual Nashville Songwriting Scholarship will award $5,000 for the best original song in any of the following genres: Americana, blues, bluegrass, contemporary Christian, country, folk, and roots. The contest is open to students between the ages of 17 and 24, who are enrolled in any college or university located in the U.S. GRAMMY-winning recording artist and BMI songwriter Kacey Musgraves endorses the competition and serves as a final judge.

““This is an exceptional opportunity for new songwriters and composers to be recognized and supported for their work.” said BMI Foundation President Deirdre Chadwick. “Our programs are designed to provide new writers with opportunities to build a firm foundation from which to launch their careers–and many have done so quite successfully.”

Most program applications must be completed online no later than January 15, 2020, though the Founders Award, Woody Guthrie, and Student Composer Awards have extended deadlines. For complete details and to apply, please visit bmifoundation.org/programs.

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

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